Nina's Story - Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Nina had been struggling with Panic Attacks since being a young teenager. She felt dreadful with no control over her body or thoughts. She was due to go through her A level exams soon and had tried Acupuncture and medication both of which helped, they didn't resolve the situation but made her feel better. She asked if I could help because she wanted rid of the Panic Attacks, although at that point she wasn't sure it was possible.

Nina is a real client who wanted to share her story so that others can benefit. It’s always lovely when I get a chance to share my client’s story and demystify the process.

Here's a breakdown of Nina's sessions:

1) Understanding Nina - We found out how Nina interpret's the world, what her strengths were and explained how/why her brain had created this Anxiety experience. Knowledge is powerful and understanding can really take away the anxiousness of the unknown.

2) Practical tools - I taught Nina the practical tools she could use to take back control and let go of the old, outdated thoughts and feelings. I gave Nina a tool kit full of techniques which she tried, tweaked and made perfect for her. She now knows exactly what to do and how to do it well in her own way.

3) A brain spring clean - With lots of learnt behaviour around Anxiety and Panic we needed to give Nina a spring clean. Through ego strengthening I put back in all the good stuff and we used a couple of techniques to help Nina let go of the old, unhelpful things like her connection with feeling full and that bringing on Anxiety.

4) The new world - We created the new world using future pacing because our brains find it hard to change when it doesn't understand what it's changing too. We created the new world so it was easy for Nina to see how this would be better and what to do to get there.

What were the results?

In the last session Nina floated in with a massive smile on her face. She couldn't believe the difference in just a few months. I read her some of her original questionnaire and she laughed and said she no longer felt like that person. She couldn't believe how far she'd come in such a short space of time.

Over the last few months Nina had:

- been to an exercise class - a new experience and one she's never have said yes too before- driven to York for a day out - Nina said previously she's probably have just said no and not gone but she really enjoyed herself.- been to a party and not even thought about food - feeling full was a big issue previously and one which always resulted in a panic attack, she couldn't believe it hadn't even crossed her mind.- failed one exam and actually felt really calm about it - something unheard of in the past, she'd just arranged a resit for next year- passed her final exam and felt over the moon- couldn't remember the last time she'd had a panic attack and actually wasn't even worried if she did.

What did Nina say?

What was your biggest aha?Realising I don’t need to be stressed all the time – taking time out for myself and realising the negative language I was using.

What would you tell others about the service and support I offer?Very good! A very empathetic treatment where you genuinely feel Zoe wants to help you get better.Would you recommend me to others? If so, why?I would definitely recommended Zoe to others!!!